What does conked mean?
"Conked" is the past tense of the informal verb "conk." Its most literal sense is to strike someone on the head, as when a dropped book conks a dozing student. Far more common today is the extended expression "conk out," which describes something ceasing abruptly: an old car's engine conks out on the motorway, or an exhausted child conks out on the sofa. Both uses carry a light, comic register — nobody is seriously injured by being conked, and a machine that conks out is more inconvenient than catastrophic. The word's origins are uncertain; it appeared in early twentieth-century English, with the engine-failure sense attested during the First World War era. Separately, "conk" was once a well-known noun naming a chemically straightened hairstyle worn widely in Black communities between the 1920s and 1960s. Versatile, vivid, and unmistakably colloquial, "conked" remains a handy way to describe sudden impact or sudden shutdown.
verb"Conked" is the past tense of "conk," meaning chiefly to strike someone on the head, and by extension (in the phrase "conk out") to break down suddenly or fall asleep.
- To strike someone on the head.
- (In "conk out") To break down or stop working suddenly, as an engine.
- (In "conk out") Informal: to fall asleep or collapse from exhaustion.
"The shelf slipped from his grip and conked him squarely on the head."
"A falling icicle conked the mail carrier right on the shoulder."
"We were halfway up the mountain when the engine conked out and refused to restart."
One little syllable does triple duty: it can knock you out, put an engine out, or describe a chemically straightened hairstyle from the 1920s–60s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of conked
The verb "conk" first appears in English in the early twentieth century, its ultimate origin uncertain, though some lexicographers have suggested a possible link to "conch" or to earlier dialectal words for a blow to the head. By around the First World War period, aviators were using "conk out" for engines that failed mid-flight, and the phrase soon spread to any mechanical breakdown and then to falling asleep. The noun "conk" denoting a straightened hairstyle emerged in 1920s African American vernacular and remained current through the 1960s.
Related word forms
How conked is actually used
Informal and colloquial in all senses. The head-strike sense is playful rather than violent; "conk out" is very common for machines failing and people falling asleep, especially in British English. A separate noun sense, "conk," referred to a straightened hairstyle popular in African American communities from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Easily confused with conked
"Conned" means deceived or swindled, while "conked" means struck on the head (or, as "conk out," breaking down).